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Desire Satisfaction Theories And The Problem Of Depression, Andrew Spaid
Desire Satisfaction Theories And The Problem Of Depression, Andrew Spaid
Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This dissertation argues that the desire satisfaction theory, arguably the dominant theory of well-being at present, fails to explain why depression is bad for a person. People with clinical depression desire almost nothing, but the few desires they do have are almost all satisfied. So it appears the theory must say these people are relatively well-off. A number of possible responses on behalf of the theory are considered, and I argue that each response either fails outright, or requires modifications to the desire satisfaction theory which make the theory unattractive for other reasons.
Advisors: Joseph Mendola and John Brunero
Vagueness And The Logic Of The World, Zack Garrett
Vagueness And The Logic Of The World, Zack Garrett
Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
In this dissertation, I argue that vagueness is a metaphysical phenomenon---that properties and objects can be vague---and propose a trivalent theory of vagueness meant to account for the vagueness in the world. In the first half, I argue against the theories that preserve classical logic. These theories include epistemicism, contextualism, and semantic nihilism. My objections to these theories are independent of considerations of the possibility that vagueness is a metaphysical phenomenon. However, I also argue that these theories are not capable of accommodating metaphysical vagueness.
As I move into my positive theory, I first argue for the possibility of metaphysical …